Furniture glide shoe



Jan. 17, 1961 H. ARENSON FURNITURE GLIDE SHOE Filed .Sept. 2, 1958fiig.5.

INVENTOR.

A T'TORNE Y6.

Herbert Arena on.

United States Patent FURNITURE GLIDE SHOE Herbert Arenson, ChildloreCo., 210 W. 15th St., Kansas City, Mo.

Filed Sept. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 758,220

1 Claim. (Cl. 45-137) This invention relates to furniture supports andthe like, and more particularly to a novel glide shoe for attachment toa foot member on furniture legs or supports.

Various articles of furniture and the like have been made in the pastwith legs or supporting portions provided with feet which include amounting portion securing the foot to the article and a floor-engagingelement or foot with a connector between said element and the mountingportion which may be rubber, swivel members or other suitable structurefor some resiliency or relative movement between the floor-engagingelement and the mounting portion. It is common in glide structures tohave the floor-engaging element in the form of a metal cap secured to anoverlying cushion which may be made of rubber as by turning the edges ofthe metal cap upwardly and inwardly and embedding them in the sides ofthe cushion whereby the periphery of the floor-engaging element isrounded or toroidal in shape. Such metal caps wear and the outersurfaces become rough, corroded or otherwise marred in use, and thentend to scar, cut or otherwise damage the surface of the floor orsupporting surface on which the cap rests. The deterioration of theconventional metal caps on furniture supports necessitates frequentreplacement to prevent such damage. Usually, it is necessary to replacethe entire glide assembly including the mounting which involvesconsiderable labor, together with the cost of the parts, making thereplacement relatively expensive.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide a novelglide shoe for attachment to the usual foot or floor-engaging element ofa glide assembly, and thereby restore its usefulness Without replacementof said glide assembly; to provide a glide shoe molded in one piece andhaving a recess defined by resilient portions for receiving thefloor-engaging element of furniture and resiliently gripping same toretain the glide shoe thereon; to provide such a glide shoe that ismolded of a synthetic resin whereby the shoe has long life, no agehardening, is substantially inert and capable of withstanding a greatdeal of stress without failure; and to provide such a novel glide shoethat is quickly and easily snapped on a worn glide foot member tofurnish a new floor-engaging element therefor at very low expense.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein are set forth by way of illustration and examplecertain embodiments of this invention.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a glide shoe applied to a support forfurniture or the like.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the glide shoe engaged withthe furniture support, taken on a line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the glide shoe.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the glide shoe from the top thereof.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged partial sectional view through the glide shoeseparated from the furniture foot member to illustrate the relativeshapes thereof.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

The numeral 1 designates a glide shoe for attachment to a conventionalfloor-engaging element 2 or foot member on a supporting portion such asa leg 3 of furniture or the like. In the illustrated structure, thesupporting member 3 is representative of the leg of a piece of furnituresuch as a chair, table or the like, and mounted at the lower end 4thereof by any suitable conventional mounting is a glide assembly 5which is of conventional structure including a cushion portion 6 onwhich is secured a floorengaging element 2 which, in the illustratedstructure, is a metal cap secured to the overlying cushion 6 by turningthe edges of the element 2 upwardly and inwardly and embedding them asat 7 in the sides of the cushion 6. The floor-engaging element or foot 2has a bottom surface 8 normally adapted to rest on the floor orsupporting surface, and the outer periphery is rounded or substantiallytoroidal in shape, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, whereby the upperportion is of less width or diameter than the area of maximum width ordiameter.

The glide shoe 1 is preferably molded or otherwise suitably formed ofmaterial capable of withstanding a great deal of stress without failure,and that has long life, no age hardening and that is substantiallyinert. The glide shoe is preferably molded from a synthetic resin suchas polyethylene, and it has been found that low pressure, high densitypolyethylene, frequently called linear polyethylene, is particularlyadapted for the making of this glide shoe; however, other flexibleplastics, such as nylon, may be used. It is also preferable that thesynthetic resin be such that in the thicker sections it is relativelyrigid while the thin sections are flexible and resilient. The glide shoe1 comprises a molded base portion 9 having a flat floor-engaging bottomsurface 10 and an upwardly extending dome-like or frusto-convex portion11 with a recess or socket 12 formed in said dome-like portion adaptedto receive the floor-engaging'element 2 of the furniture support.

The floor-engaging element or metal cap having a toroidal shape at theperiphery has its greatest or maximum width or diameter as at 13 withthe portion 14 thereabove of decreasing diameter whereby the outersurface of said upper portion is frusto-convex. The recess or socket 12has an area or portion of greatest or maximum width or diameter as at 15with the portion of the socket below the said area of greatest width ordiameter corresponding in shape and size to the portion of the footmember or metal cap 2 below the greatest width or diameter 13 thereof.

The portion of the socket 12 above the greatest diameter substantiallycorresponds in shape to the portion of the foot member above the area ofgreatest diameter, only it is preferable that the socket upper portionbe of slightly less diameter than a corresponding portion of the metalcap 2 or foot member whereby it is necessary that the wall 16 of thedome-like portion 11 contracts the opening 17 of the socket and isslightly expanded when the glide shoe is mounted on the foot member ormetal cap, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The dome-like portion 11, fromsubstantially at the plane of the greatest diameter 15 of the socket,has an outer surface 18 sloping generally downwardly and outwardlywhereby the wall thickness surrounding the lower portion of the socketis relatively great to form a substantially rigid section. Adjacent theplane of the greatest diameter 15 of the socket, the outer surface ofthe dome-like portion 11 is an inwardly offset step as at 19 whereby thewall portion 16 thereabove defining the socket 12 is relatively thin andprogressively decreases in thickness to the opening 17 as shown in Fig.5 to provide a flexible resilient section. It is preferable that thewall 20 of the base 9 between the. bottom 21 of the socket and thebottom surface 10 of the base member be relatively thick to form asubstantially rigid section, and it is also preferable that a smallaperture 22 extend through said wall portion 20 for escape of air fromthe socket or recess when the glide shoe is being applied to thefurniture foot member. In the illustrated structure, the base portion islarger in diameter than the dome-like portion, providing increased sizeof the bottom surface and thereby increased bearing area for the glideshoe. At the outer periphery of the flat bottom surface 10, the glideshoe preferably slopes upwardly and outwardly as at 23 providing aninclined edge facilitating movement of the furniture over slight upwardprojections in the floor or supporting surface. The upper surface of thebase slopes inwardly and upwardly as at 24 to provide a substantiallyfrustoconical surface. While the base member is shown to be cylindrical,it may be of any suitable geometric shape, and also while the socket anddome-like or frusto-convex upwardly extending member 11 on the base arealso illustrated as cylindrical, it is to be understood that they may beof any shape substantially corresponding to the peripheral shape of thefoot 2 of the furniture support.

While the glide shoe is particularly adaptable to be a replacement shoeon used furniture supports, it may also be used as a shoe for newsupports.

In assembling the glide, the furniture supporting foot 2 is positionedover the recess 12 in axial alignment therewith, and the foot member isforced against the upper edge 25 of the wall portion 16, and due to therounded contour of the lower portion of the foot member or metal cap thewall portion is forced outwardly allowing the foot member to be forcedor snapped into the recess 12, the wall portion 16 then contractingaround the upper portion of the foot member 2 to securely hold the shoeon the foot member. Any air tending to be trapped in the recess 12 isforced through the aperture 22. The glide shoe 1 Will be firmly retainedon the furniture supporting member or foot member 2 thereof, and due tothe relatively thick sections in the wall portions surrounding the lowerportion of the recess 12, and in the base wall below the socket, thereis such rigidity therein that the load is distributed over the bottomsurface 10 of the base member rather than localizing the load in thecenter portion of the base member. The glide shoe when applied is notsubject to corrosion, is wear-resistant, capable of withstanding greatstress, and will have long life without danger of marring or damaging afloor or other supporting surface.

It is to be understood that while I have illustrated and described oneform of my invention, it is not to be limited to the specific form orarrangement of parts herein described and shown except insofar as suchlimitations are included in the claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A glide shoe for use with a furniture support having a foot with abottom surface and a periphery substantially toroidal in shape with aplane of greatest width spaced above said bottom surface comprising, abase member molded of plastic material that is relatively rigid in thicksections but relatively resilient in thin sections, said molded basemember having a floor-engaging bottom surface substantially larger thanthe furniture support foot to which it is adapted to be applied, saidbase member having an integral upwardly extending central portion with asubstantially toroidal cavity therein and a restricted opening extendingfrom said cavity through the top of said central portion, said openingbeing significantly smaller than the dimension of the foot in the planeof greatest width thereof, said cavity being dimensioned to tightlyreceive the furniture support foot therein and having a lower portionsubstantially corresponding in shape and size to the furniture supportfoot below the plane of greatest width thereof, said central portionhaving a frusto-convex exterior and a thick wall section defining theperiphery of the cavity below said plane of greatest width thereof and arelatively thin wall section defining the restricted opening and theperiphery of the cavity above said plane of greatest width thereof, saidfrusto-convex exterior having an inwardly ofr'set step located in saidplane of greatest width and dividing said thick and thin wall sectionswhereby the flexibility of the shoe is substantially limited to the thinwall section above said plane of greatest width, said thin wall sectionbeing progressively thinner from adjacent said offset step to saidrestricted opening whereby said thin wall section will deform radiallyoutwardly under pressure thereon by a support foot at said restrictedopening to permit said support foot to enter into said cavity and thensaid thin wall section will return to its original shape wherein theopening is significantly smaller than the dimension of the foot in theplane of greatest width thereof to engage and grip said foot above theplane of greatest width of said foot providing secure retention thereofin said cavity.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS887,663 Lee May 12, 1908 2,262,064 Swarr Nov. 11, 1941 2,820,240 MatysIan. 21, 1958 2,827,655 Ustica Mar. 25, 1958 2,865,133 Hoven et a1. Dec.23, 1958 2,875,552 Stillman Mar. 3, 1959

